Published12 September 2026
Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas, whose films included The Last Emperor and Sexy Beast, has died aged 77.
The British filmmaker "passed away peacefully" surrounded by family and loved ones at his home in Oxfordshire on Friday, his publicist said in a statement.
Thomas built an international reputation over a career spanning five decades, working with directors including David Cronenberg, Nagisa Oshima, Julien Temple and Nicolas Roeg and backing independent films alongside mainstream successes.
His best known film, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, won nine Academy Awards, including best picture, and earned Thomas an Oscar as producer in 1988.
The critically-acclaimed biographical drama about the final monarch of China's Qing dynasty starred Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole and Vivian Wu.
Thomas repeatedly collaborated with Bertolucci, also producing The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.
He worked with several British directors at the start of their careers including Ben Wheatley, Jonathan Glazer, Stephen Frears and David Mackenzie.
Thomas's other credits included Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence – starring David Bowie – Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, Roeg's Bad Timing and Eureka, and Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio.
He also produced Fast Food Nation, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, The Hit and adaptations of the JG Ballard books Crash and High-Rise.
After beginning as a film editor, London-based Thomas landed his first production role on the 1976 Australian film Mad Dog Morgan.
A former chairman of the British Film Institute, he won a Bafta for outstanding British contribution to cinema in 1990. Thomas received the European Film Academy's award for outstanding European achievement in world cinema in 2006 and was made a CBE in the New Year Honours in 2009.
Thomas's latest collaboration with Japanese director Takashi Miike, Bad Lieutenant:Tokyo, is due to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday.
منبع: بی بی سی
